Project team

Partners

Professor Evelyn Welch, Queen Mary,
University of London

Supported by

An Arts and Humanities Research Council
Collaborative Doctoral Award

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From the accession of Henry VIII in 1509 until
the death of James I in 1625 men wore just as much jewellery as
their female counterparts. Yet jewellery is often viewed as a
feminine preoccupation. In this period, male ownership of jewels
was about much more than just adorning the body. Jewellery had the
power to reflect magnificence, lineage and wealth, as well as
sustain social bonds and networks of exchange.

This project investigates the significance of the jewels worn,
owned and circulated by men in the sixteenth and early-seventeenth
centuries, in order to provide a contextual understanding of
objects often considered as trifles of adornment.

In this period (1509-1625) both clothing and jewellery were
used as markers of an individual’s social, moral and professional
status in a community. While there has been much work done in
recent years on establishing dress history as an academic
discipline, studies on jewellery have tended to adopt a more
chronological or stylistic approach. This project
is part of a more general movement towards providing a social
context for these objects.

Gold and enamelled hat ornament
for men, 1530-40

Project aims and output

This project aims to bridge the gap between
traditional art history scholarship and archaeological work to
provide a strong social and historical context for jewellery and
men in Tudor and Jacobean England.

At its core is the early-modern European jewellery
collection in the department of Britain, Europe and Prehistory. By
combining object analysis with evidence from documentary, literary,
archival and visual sources, this project will provide a new
context for these holdings. Finds continually reported through the
1996 Treasure Act will also be integrated to demonstrate the
importance of jewellery for men across all social levels.

In 2010, a group of early-career silversmiths
were invited to take inspiration from the British Museum's
Renaissance jewels to create modern pieces considering the
attributes and preoccupations of a twenty-first century man.

The objects created by the silversmiths were on display as part
of Inspired: contemporary views of Renaissance jewellery in Gallery
46 from 11 November 2011 until 30 January 2012.